Where was the Watchtower Society in the first century?

The World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that by A. D. 100 there were 1 million Christians in the Roman Empire out of a population of 181 million. Even if their estimates are off by a whopping 80%, which is highly unlikely the number of first century Christians would still exceed 144,000. The logical question that comes to mind is "why would God deny the vast majority of first century Christians heavenly honors and save it for those who joined the Watchtower Society between the years 1879 and 1935?". Stranger still is their belief that for 18 centuries God was supposedly very picky and skipped over hundreds of thousands of Christians for heavenly honors and then in 1879 when the Watchtower came along God suddenly made it first come first served and He choose virtually everyone who joined the Watchtower between the years 1879 and 1935